1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording-reproducing apparatus which records and/or reproduces information on and/or from information recording cards by magnetic or optical means or the like, and more particularly to a recording-reproducing apparatus having a function of preventing successive insertion of two information recording cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus for recording and reproducing information on and from cards as recording media is required to have means for preventing two cards from being inserted in succession into the apparatus through its card insertion slot. Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Application No. 1-162160 discloses a recording-reproducing apparatus with a mechanism for preventing successive insertion of two cards, which will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
As shown in FIG. 1, a magnetic card 2 which is a kind of information recording card is inserted into a direction X1, as shown by one head of a double-headed arrow, into a recording-reproducing apparatus from its card insertion slot (not shown) and discharged from the apparatus in a direction X2, indicated by the other head of the double-headed arrow.
An arm 4 extends along one side of a card passage-way of the magnetic card 2. The arm 4 is provided on its respective ends with a contact piece 6 and a stop piece 8. The contact piece 6 is disposed at the side of the direction X1 and the stop piece 8 is disposed at the side of the direction X2. On the contact piece 6 is formed a tapered face 10 which can contact a corner of the magnetic card 2. A pin 12 is provided in the portion of the arm 4 between the contact piece 6 and the stop piece 8 such that the arm 4 is supported by the casing so as to be rotatable around the pin 12.
When the magnetic card 2 is inserted into the housing of the apparatus from the card insertion slot, a corner of the magnetic card 2 abuts against the tapered face 10 of the contact piece 6 and the arm 4 is turned around the pin 12 in a direction shown by an arrow A. The stop piece 8 enters the region of the card passageway of the magnetic card 2 and prevents further insertion of another magnetic card into the housing from the card insertion slot. When, therefore, a magnetic card 2 is in the housing, another magnetic card cannot be inserted into the housing, even if the operator tries to do so, whereby successive insertion of two cards into the apparatus is prevented.
In order for the stop piece 8 to prevent successive insertion of two magnetic cards 2 in a normal way, a magnetic card 2 must always be in contact with the contact piece 6. Once the magnetic card 2 is inserted into the housing of the apparatus, however, the card 2 cannot be moved independently in both opposite transfer directions. Accordingly, this mechanism for preventing successive insertion of two cards cannot be applied to a recording-reproducing apparatus in which recording and reproduction of information on and from a card are carried out by moving the card in the opposite transfer directions.
When the operator tries to insert another magnetic card 2 in the housing of the apparatus by mistake in a state in which the stop piece 8 is in a position for preventing insertion of another card, it sometimes happens that the abutment of such another magnetic card 2 against the stop piece 8 causes the arm 4 to be moved in the opposite direction to the direction shown by the arrow A and the contact piece 6 is separated from the corner of such another magnetic card 2. The separation of the contact piece 6 from the magnetic card 2 makes unstable the crosswise support of the magnetic card 2 on which information is being recorded or from which information is being reproduced. Unstable support of the card in the direction of width of the card adversely affects the accuracy of the linear movement of the magnetic card. In particular, optical cards must be moved linearly at a very high accuracy during recording and reproduction of information. Thus, unstable support of the card in its width direction sometimes makes the recording and reproduction impossible.